where does beautiful boy take place

The title Beautiful Boy can refer to two different works, and they take place in different locations:

• The 2010 drama Beautiful Boy (about parents whose son commits a school shooting) is set in a generic American suburb and at a college campus; the setting is not tied to a specific named city on-screen, but it’s presented as contemporary United States suburbia.

• The 2018 biographical drama Beautiful Boy (with Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet, based on David and Nic Sheff’s memoirs) takes place primarily in and around San Francisco and the broader Bay Area, with key sequences connected to Los Angeles and a trip to New York, reflecting Nic’s moves between his parents’ homes and rehab centers.

If you had one specific Beautiful Boy in mind (the 2018 film is the one most people mean), then the short answer is: it mainly takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area, with important scenes in Los Angeles and New York.